Windows Vista ReadyBoost

Flash drives are generally used for storing files. Sequential writing and reading are the two most common operations for them as the consequence, and most of our tests check out this scenario. However, if you use your flash drive to store applications that can be started right from it, the random access speed becomes important, too.

We measure the speed of random reading and writing using the same method we used earlier to check a drive’s compliance with ReadyBoost technology. To remind you, a ReadyBoost-compliant flash drive must have a capacity of 256MB. Moreover, it has to deliver a speed of 2.5MB/s when reading random-address 4KB data blocks and a speed of 1.75MB/s when writing random-address 512MB data blocks. We performed this test using IOMeter. In the diagrams below blue marks the results that comply with the ReadyBoost requirements.

The three drives all perform well enough in the random read test. The Corsair Flash Voyager takes last place, but it is not far slower than the leaders.

It’s worse with the write speed: two out of the three drives even could not meet the ReadyBoost requirements. And if the performance of the leader Xporter XT is compared with the results of the 4GB drives we tested before, its speed proves to be low, too.